Robocall law lacks teeth, Liberal leader Sherman says

EDMONTON — Alberta’s new legislation to crack down on robocallers is so weak it can’t even be called a slap on the wrist, says Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman.

Legislation passed last year to empower Elections Alberta to crack down on robocallers who don’t provide contact information carries a $500 maximum fine, on conviction in a court. That pales in comparison to the $15,000 per call administrative penalties that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) can levy for the same offence, without even going to court.

Alberta’s law controlling automated telephone dialers is more time-consuming and expensive to enforce and the penalty is not much of a deterrent, said Sherman.

“That’s an example of a lot of expense to get a conviction, with really not even a slap on a wrist for a fine,” he said.

The CRTC last month announced a total of $369,000 in fines against eight political parties, politicians and automated dialing companies in a crackdown against so-called demon dialers that don’t provide recipients of calls with the name of the party on whose behalf the call was made, a mailing address and a phone number.

The province passed a similar law last fall after receiving complaints in the previous general election.

“When we get those complaints or calls next time, we can actually do something about them under the Election Act,” said Elections Alberta spokesman Drew Westwater. “The challenge here, of course, is the penalty provisions in our legislation. ... It’s nothing like what the CRTC can levy.”

Westwater said Elections Alberta will likely make recommendations to increase the penalties, but when that will happen is not clear. The legislature has just begun advertising for a new chief electoral officer.

Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said Wednesday the government accepted more than 90 per cent of the outgoing chief electoral officer’s recommendations last year, but there was no recommendation to boost penalties.

“I haven’t received any communication from the chief electoral officer on this,” he said. “If the acting chief electoral officer would like to recommend increasing penalties, I would suggest she write me and we would actually go look at it.”

But NDP Leader Brian Mason said the current penalty provisions are not surprising because he believes Alberta’s election laws generally are the weakest in the country.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith, whose party was fined $90,000 by the CRTC for failing to provide proper identification in its robocalls, said the Alberta PC government is trying to appear tough on the issue, but the federal telecom agency is in a better position to enforce the rules.

“The CRTC has demonstrated that they have the ability to collect information, do an investigation, make an assessment, levy a fine, collect on it, and enforce an agreement so I think this is why these kind of things are left to a national regulator,” she said.

“If you have done something wrong under the provincial legislation, then you have done something wrong under the federal legislation,” she said.

Westwater said having a provincial robocalling law means Elections Alberta can now explain the rules to candidates and parties in its pre-election campaign colleges and in its published guidelines to prevent such infractions.

While the CRTC can investigate violations of its guidelines, Elections Alberta will also have the authority to investigate complaints received, during the election period, he said.

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